先 = 牛 + 儿

先 is a Japanese kanji written with 6 strokes, listed here under the keyword “before”. It is built from 牛 (cow) and 儿 (human legs). In Remembering the Kanji by James W. Heisig it is frame 263. It appears as a component in 2 other characters in this index.

Keyword: before
RTK frame: 263
Strokes: 6
On'yomi (Sino-Japanese reading): セン
Kun'yomi (native Japanese reading): さき, ま.ず
Script: Japanese kanji
Also known as: перед, previous
Same glyph as a Chinese hanzi: 先 first

Decomposition

Primary decomposition

Characters that contain 先

How to find 先 without knowing its reading

On KumiJi Glyph Explorer, open the parts search and type “cow” + “human legs”. 先 is among the results, together with every other character containing the same shapes.

Open 先 in the interactive kanji search to expand every part down to its smallest pieces, add your own names and mnemonic stories, or search for other characters by their parts.